KRSW

I would modify the review, maybe revise the star rating, but wouldn't be willing to remove it entirely. I'd probably quickly mention what went wrong but then spend a greater portion of the review praising the owner's actions for going out of his way to make things right. Attitude matters a lot in this business. Sometimes staff are caught in the middle between an owner who doesn't want to spend a dime and guests who paid good money and are expecting the hotel to look like the brochure. I'll make sure to emphasize which/where staff truly did what they could vs. slumlord owner.

I have a saying: It's always good to get things right the first time, but the true test of a company is how they handle the situation when things go wrong.

obscure2k

My favorite response. @:-)

squeakr

I owuld do as this poster suggested
On principle, I would not agree to this. If they offered to refund my stay in order to earn my satisfaction, I would accept it, and amend the review accordingly. However, I would not accept direct compensation for modifying the review.

If they offered this to me, I would amend my review to include their explanation of why the service was poor. I would urge future guests to inquire whether this sub will be dealing with them. I may even add a star if I feel it is justified by the response I received to my comments, but not directly for money.

But let the info about the sub stand.

LondonElite

I'm not a big fan of TripAdvisor and rarely use it, but my immediate reaction on reading your OP was to do exactly what you've done here, which is modify the review in view of the generous service recovery and clear commitment to the business and give them 4 or 4.5 stars or whatever TripAdvisor does. Based on your experience, I'd actually want to stay there now that I know how important the business is to them.

Beven12S

I'm not that familiar with the expert reviewer status or whatever but, if there is evidence of taking baksheesh like this, I think TA should immediately demote the person to venal reviewer.

LondonElite

Do you understand the difference between baksheesh and a refund for failing to deliver a promised service?

nrr

When I look at reviews on TA, for hotels I've stayed at which I liked, I (sometimes) wonder if the criticisms are related to that hotel.
I've often wondered how can 10 people (say) give a hotel 1*, while another 10, give it 5*; the answer is everything is "relative". Which I assume most people realize.
Bottom line: TA ratings are interesting to note, but not that crucial.
So take the cash offer, remove the review.

manneca

I was visiting my sister and BIL and we went to their favorite restaurant. They eat there probably once a week or 10 days and are personal friends with the owner. A new waiter spilled red wine all over me. The hostess came over to help clean up and gave me some towels to wipe off the wine. The owner was there and never came over to apologize.

I was miffed. My BIL wanted to minimize the damage, etc. I picked up the bill and expected at least that the wine would be comped. Well they comped us for one glass. Actually we wound up paying more for the wine because they charged us by the glass instead of the bottle that we ordered. I would have thought that they might have offered to clean or replace my ruined clothes.

I posted a negative review on TA basically commenting on the absence of an apology from anyone. Two days later my sister received a call from the owner apologizing, saying that he wasn't aware of the accident until later that night. He also said that he was comping the entire meal. I took down the review. I'm not sure I would have if the owner and my sister and BIL were not friends.

So, yes take the money.

Doc Savage

FWIW, OP, for €1300 non taxable, I'd take down the review.

sbm12

Accepting a payoff for a review (or lack thereof) is, AFAIK, a violation of the TripAdvisor T&Cs. Owners are not supposed to offer it and members are not supposed to accept it. I've seen a number of examples where a free drink or similar is offered for a complimentary review but never a full comp of a stay (though I suppose there are plenty of comp'd trip reviews out there, but those are arranged in advance, not after the fact). And the ethics of doing it are, to me, pretty clear. Either you're for sale or you're not. The price is just a negotiation point.

And, yes, it is common for such things to be fixed and addressed in private. That the OP did not attempt to solve the problem privately first suggests that the desire was to "name and shame" rather than to be compensated IMO. Certainly he could have privately expressed the disappointment to the company before lambasting them in public, right??

When I've encountered similar issues with hotels or airlines and written about the problems I've never removed the "bad" story part of the tale. I'll add/amend/clarify as things are eventually resolved and make sure that the full story is told, but never delete the original bit. Because I'm not for sale. I made that decision a long time ago and the price point doesn't really matter.

Or, I've never been shown a number large enough, perhaps.

n.b. The link above is to my blog or to one which I am a regular contributor. FT rules require that I disclose that in the post.

emma69

I would look at it this way - if the owner was there, even arrived on your last day, would they have made the same offer to comp the stay? If you think there is a reasonable chance that would have happened, then I see this as a genuine 'we are really sorry' motivation from the owner, trying to make it right. The review part is almost an aside (but is the mechanism by which they learnt of the issue). If they had comp'd your stay would you have written the negative review?

I think refunding the entire stay is a very generous offer, and I would likely take it in the spirit that is intended, they don't want you to feel badly about the stay, and they don't want others to think that is the norm via your review.

sbm12

Or a positive review? Or nothing at all.

If one wants to be considered a reliable source on such things then the refund shouldn't matter. Saying, "I had problems X, Y and Z but the owner made up for it" is much better than saying nothing at all IMO. But, again, it depends on if you're concerned with your personal position or helping others have a better travel experience.

kokonutz

Thanks for all the advice and opinions.

We've had several emails back and forth with the owner. I'm now of the opinion that this was indeed a one-off incident and have therefore accepted the refund offer and am removing the review from TripAdvisor.

Re-reading my TA review, most of my problem was with the sub, so I decided (with much urging from my wife) that it's not fair to judge the property based on our experience with a sub when they claim this is the first time they ever used a sub (and they said in our email exchange that they never would make that mistake again).

I actually am pretty surprised that they had such a cow over a three star review that also ended with a 'Would you recommend? YES'

I mean, I've left plenty of negative reviews on TA and the most I have ever heard back is a 'reply' comment from the provider apologizing and promising to do better in the future. Heck, I was shocked and bewildered by this offer (hence this thread!).

But I guess they are a small business and have a lot of pride in their reputation, e.g., "It was a very sad, dark, unhappy feeling for us to read about your experience...It saddened us greatly."

Well apparently €1300 is in my price range.

If I thought this was a scam/regular occurrence I never would have even considered doing this. But it does sincerely seem to be a one-off where they left their property in the wrong hands.

I wish I could have reliably communicated with the owners directly. I very much wanted to do that. But, as I said, their sub was answering their emails. It wouldn't make much sense to send an email complaining about the sub to an email address that the sub was answering. I did provide the owners with a GREAT deal more detail in our email exchange, for which they expressed gratitude.

And yet I still don't feel 100% comfortable about this decision. But then again, I am not a blogger or a travel writer. Just a doofus on the Internet.

I wouldn't have written anything at all.

Beven12S

Did you read that the refund for poor service included a quid pro quo to remove the review? This was not just a "refund for failing to deliver a promised service." To my mind, that would have no strings attached and would reflect good service.

Regardless of whether I used "baksheesh" correctly, do you think that a reviewer that takes money/refunds to alter/delete their review is really an expert reviewer or is s/he a reviewer whose reviews should be viewed with suspicion?

onobond

Withdrawing a negative TA review after second thoughts on how, for example, negative transport options may have influenced the negative verdict, seems to imply re-read before submit, but could be accepted, under certain circumstances.

Doing it for reimbursement seem very close to writing a positive review after asked to do so "if we treat you to a three course dinner for you both"

I maybe will look on things I read on TA in another way in the future